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Oklahoma Cop Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison For Killing Daughter’s Teenage Boyfriend

A former Oklahoma cop will spend the next 15 years in prison for shooting his daughter’s teenage boyfriend to death over two years ago.

Ex-Tulsa police officer Shannon Kepler claimed he acted in self-defense when he gunned down Jeremey Lake on Aug. 5, 2014, shortly after the 19-year-old had started dating his daughter, Lisa. But a jury didn’t buy that argument and found Kepler guilty of manslaughter last month after three separate juries failed to indict him on murder charges.

On Monday, District judge Sharon Holmes slammed Kepler with a $10,000 fine in addition to a 15-year prison sentence.

Kepler, 57, testified during his trial that he drove to Lake’s house after a discussion about his daughter’s love life turned heated. He told jurors that he believed Lake had a gun and that “it was either him or me.”

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But no weapons were found on Lake after the shooting and the young man’s aunt testified that he had extended his hand for a shake when Kepler opened fire.

Lake’s father, Carl Morse, told the judge on Monday morning that he woke up and wanted to “rip” Kepler’s “head off,” but said he eventually came to his senses, adding that Kepler will now have to “pay the consequences.”

“The last three years of my life have been a living hell,” Morse said.

Prosecutors argued that Kepler, who was off-duty, “hunted” down Lake because he was “the boy” his daughter had been sleeping with.

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Lisa Kepler met Lake at a homeless shelter after her parents kicked her out of the house.

Kepler, tears in his eyes, testified during his trial that he felt “terrible” about the whole situation.

“You want your children to have a better life than you do,” the disgraced officer said. “You can’t help them if they won’t accept help.”

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Filming Cops was started in 2010 as a conglomerative blogging service documenting police abuse. The aim isn’t to demonize the natural concept of security provision as such, but to highlight specific cases of State-monopolized police brutality that are otherwise ignored by traditional media outlets.